Selected Works 2017 - 2024
Master of Architecture
Columbia GSAPP
Bachelor of Architecture
Feng Chia University
Academic Works
01 Eggtree 04 Flower Center
Re-thinking Affordable Housing in West Harlem
GSAPP / Fall 2024 Core 3 Housing Project
02 Inferno Spa
Transforming Centralia
GSAPP / Spring 2024 Core 2 Damage Control
03 Museum Visionary
The Future of Art Museum
FCU / Fall 2021 - Spring 2022 5th Year Thesis Project
Professional Works
01 UNI Brown Coffee
Retail, Coffee Shop
MurMurLab / 2019
Role / Intern
Location / Shanghai, China
02 Yushen Factory
Pharmaceutical Factory Renovation
Personal work / 2024 (completed)
Role / Design Lead
Location / Taichung Industrial District
03 Dao-Xiang Social Housing
Social Housing Competition, 1st Place
BaF / 2023
Role / Designer
Location / Taipei, Taiwan
Sun Link Sea Greenhouse Renovation
FCU / Spring 2021 4th Year Advanced Design Studio
04 270W 17th St
Apartment Renovation
STUDIO DB / 2024
Role / Intern
Location / Downtown Manhattan, New York
05 275 Greenwich
Sun Link Sea Greenhouse Renovation
POSITION / 2024
Role / Designer
Location / Tribeca, New York
Prologue
As a Columbia GSAPP M.Arch student and licensed Interior Designer in Taiwan, I bring a rich blend of academic and professional experiences to my work. My fascination with architecture began in high school and grew through studies at institutions like Tongji University, Taliesin School, and SUTD, where I honed critical thinking and a multifaceted design approach. Professionally, internships at Mur Mur Lab in Shanghai and BaF Architects in Taiwan allowed me to work on exhibition design, sustainable practices, and BIM technologies. Leading the renovation of my parents’ factory, office, and dormitories sharpened my skills in design execution and team coordination, bridging vision with reality.
In New York, my roles at Studio DB and POSITION Studio have expanded my expertise in furniture design, residential projects, and hospitality research. My academic projects focus on urban renewal and experimental design, emphasizing innovative ways to reimagine city spaces. Personal projects, such as the Yushen project in Taiwan, reflect my commitment to creating functional and meaningful designs. With experience spanning built projects in Taiwan and New York, I aim to craft environments that are innovative, sustainable, and deeply connected to the people who use them.
01 Eggtree (Academic)
Re-thinking Affordable Housing in West Harlem
GSAPP / Fall 2024 Core 3 Housing Project
Instructor / Galia Solomonoff
Team / Yun Chen Chen, Vincent Zhang
Narrative
The Egg Tree project redefines urban living by reimagining the bedroom as a compact, enclosed “egg”—a sanctuary that provides just enough space for rest while maximizing communal areas. Inspired by precedents like Nemausus and Via Verde, we’ve sought to design a housing experience that values shared interaction as much as personal retreat. By limiting the bedroom to an egg-shaped pod, we preserve more space for public engagement, creating a vibrant, shared environment that balances privacy with community.
On the site, we embrace the existing taxi building and vacant house, transforming these structures into communal hubs: a tea house and a bathhouse, both fostering relaxation and social connection. These spaces, along with a central forum, conference hall, playground, and daycare, create an immersive setting for communication and community. The podium level connects all communal areas, allowing residents to easily transition from personal spaces to shared experiences. The residential tower above the podium consists of micro-units in the form of lofts, each featuring unique “egg” bedrooms. These “eggs” are either individually set within multi-unit configurations or suspended in larger lofts, blending the boundary between private and shared living. Two levels of balconies
TOWER AND PODIUM
The *Egg Tree*'s design evolved through iterations optimizing the residential tower’s “egg” bedroom layouts and the podium’s communal spaces. The tower refines private and shared living, while the podium seamlessly integrates existing structures into vibrant social hubs, fostering connectivity and interaction.
FABRICATION
The uniqueness of our fabrication process lies in the use of color to paint the building. Beyond showcasing the material and texture, we aim to bring the model to life, allowing people to experience its artistic essence.
General Layout - Podium
PODIUM
The podium features four distinct public spaces designed for community interaction: a central forum with a lightwell, a bathhouse to the left, a teahouse to the south, and townhouses to the right.
The mezzanine level features walkways connecting the core and the eggs, along with built-in closet and vanity modules for residents' use. Residents can also access private balconies from this level, perfect for planting greenery and relaxation.
General Layout - Mezzanine
10 15 ft
General Layout FL 2 Mezzanine
02 Inferno Spa (Academic)
Transforming Centralia
GSAPP / Spring 2024 Core 2 Damage Control Project
Instructor / Mark Wasuita
Location / Centralia, PA
Narrative
This project envisions transforming the ghost town of Centralia into a unique spa resort, harnessing the ongoing underground coal fires to create a distinctive thermal spa experience. The design leverages Centralia’s natural geothermal properties to create a one-of-a-kind retreat, blending immersive relaxation with a focus on safety and environmental harmony.
At the heart of the resort are the spa pools, each uniquely heated by the underground fires and crafted from heat-transmissive local stones. These pools, situated at or slightly below ground level, capture Centralia’s varying underground temperatures, creating a range of thermal experiences across the site. Different types of stones, each with a unique heat-transmissive quality, fine-tune the temperature of each pool, allowing visitors to experience varying intensities of warmth.
Supporting the pools are elevated resort infrastructures, such as changing rooms, cafes, and shops. These buildings are designed with materials that resist heat transmission, ensuring visitor safety while maintaining comfort. Minimizing ground contact, these structures rest on discreet supports to prevent direct exposure to the underground heat, creating a secure environment.
A carefully designed path connects the resort’s main features, guiding guests through the site while enhancing their safety. Made from temperature-sensitive materials, this path changes color based on surface temperatures, signaling safe zones and caution areas where the ground is warmer. This not only directs visitors but adds a dynamic, visual layer to their experience, seamlessly blending function with safety.
DESIGN STRATEGY
Converting the heat map of Centralia into a stone landscape and spa resort.
The resort’s vertically integrated design reflects a thoughtful interaction with Centralia’s unique environment, aligning elevated structures, at-ground amenities, and geothermal pools in a way that preserves both visitor safety and Centralia’s natural heat. This project reimagines Centralia’s ghost town legacy, transforming it into a rejuvenating retreat that honors its unusual thermal landscape. Centralia Mine Fire Existing Condition
USER JOURNEY - DAY
During the day, visitors will embark on a multi-sensory journey that takes them through the heart of Centralia’s history and landscape. They’ll explore the land by foot or golf cart, experiencing the unique environment up close. Along the way, visitors can touch the various types of stones, feel the heat radiating from them, and gain an understanding of how the fire has impacted the land. The journey includes stops at the coal pit, where they can learn about its significance, and at the pools, where temperature gradients offer a tangible representation of the land's fiery past. Throughout the experience, visitors will receive detailed insights into the history of Centralia, from its origins to the spread of the fire, allowing them to connect with the land in both a historical and physical sense.
Arrival
The Stone Library
Viewing Deck
Locker & Cart Rental
The gradient represents different types of stone and their heat transmissive properties— darker areas are hotter, while lighter grey zones are cooler. A looped lazy river connects all areas of the town, with scattered rental stations and changing units for visitors. I aimed to create a unique experience, allowing visitors to explore the fiery town in a cool, immersive way. They can witness the abundant coal pit, active vents, and existing houses, among other features.
SITE MAP
USER JOURNEY - NIGHT
At night, the landscape takes on a completely transformed atmosphere, bathed in soft, ambient lighting that highlights the eerie beauty of the environment. As the sun sets and darkness envelops the land, the pools and coal pits glow under the lights, creating a haunting yet captivating scene. Visitors will navigate the landscape using the illuminated paths and numbered system, offering them a chance to experience the town’s story from a new perspective. The tranquil yet mysterious atmosphere encourages reflection as they move through the land, witnessing the stark contrasts between the cooling stone surfaces and the lingering heat from the fire below. This nighttime journey allows visitors to experience Centralia’s haunting beauty in a more intimate and otherworldly way, providing a deeper emotional connection to the site.
Float Rental
Lazy River
The Pool
Private Lockers & Reservable Suana Rooms
THE STONE LIBRARY
Upon arriving at the main building, visitors will embark on the first stage of their journey. This building acts as their gateway to the experience, where they will check in and receive an insightful orientation. The journey begins with a guided tour that educates visitors about the unique and fascinating history of Centralia. They will have the chance to engage with the environment by experiencing the coal pit up close, touching a variety of stones, and feeling the stark differences in temperature. This hands-on experience helps visitors understand how the land came to its current state, how the fire began, and how it gradually spread across the area.
After the tour, visitors will be able to rent their equipment and golf carts, preparing them to explore the site on their own. The second floor of the building features a spacious terrace, offering stunning, sweeping views of the entire landscape. From this vantage point, visitors can gain a better understanding of the broader context of their journey. They will also be taught how to read the temperature gradients present throughout the land, learning to navigate the various pools using a straightforward numbering system. This level of interaction not only enhances the visitor experience but also ensures they can explore the area safely and meaningfully, with a deepened appreciation for both the natural and historical aspects of Centralia.
03 Museum Visionary (Academic)
Transforming Le-ming village to a Decentralized museum
FCU / Fall 2021- Spring 2022 Thesis Project
Instructor / Kurt Wu
Location / Le-ming Village, Taichung, Taiwan
Narrative
With the gradual diversification of the creative forms and contents of art, coupled with the rise of concepts such as metaverse and NFT, the scope of art has become harder to define, which is the most significant consequence followed by the ”Art Explosion”.
Will art still exist if the boundary of it starts to get too blurry to a point that no one can distinguish? And how could an art museum respond to the status of contemporary art under these realities? Therefore, this might be an opportunity to reposition the role of an “Art Museum”.
In Leming Village, which I chose as the site, the majority are elderlies and children below middle school age. The village also symbolized an important piece of history of Taichung City, including stories of military village culture and the relocation of the provincial government. Whether in historical ,cultural or geographical aspect, they all came to be part of a reason why I chose this place as the site of this project.
The village itself could be viewed as a living museum as well owing to its special architectural context and the precious lifestyle of the era back in the 60s. While the great living conditions with lush greeneries and lowdense environment have been well preserved, however, some old constructions started to ruin and become underused. In this case, I mapped out all the unused spaces in the village, and started to think about the possibility of using a certain strategy to reconnect these parts.
Now the challenge becomes” Should an art museum only exist in a single building? “ What if the physical boundary of a traditional museum breaks and all the programs are scattered into those various parts? In this way I could gently interfere and enhance the already existing network within Leming village by somehow fixing these broken parts, creating a situation of the coexistence of an old village and art museum.
Getting into the design details, I chose three major parts as demonstrations, namely the market, the community center and the campus wall. In the three spatial experiments, the museum parts responses in different manners while facing "retail”, “education” and “communal activities”, forming a series of spaces that show the value of all aspects of art.
MARKET + MUSEUM
This is the largest existing building on site, with the first floor serving as a market during walkways that allow visitors to experience both the market and the museum. It also features
during the day and night, while the upper floors are currently unused. I have chosen this building as the central hub of the museum complex, housing galleries and a large atrium for performances, a plaza for pop-up events, and dedicated storage spaces for artworks.
Museum's mezzanine
Museum's Main Entrance
East Elevation
South Elevation
The sunken plaza seamlessly connects the basement level to the village, serving as an open-air exhibition space and marketplace. With terraced seating and flexible areas for art, performances, and vendors, it fosters social interaction and cultural exchange. Natural light enhances the space, blurring the line between museum and everyday life, making art an accessible, communal experience.
SUNKEN PLAZA
THE WALL
The wall design in *The Living Museum* challenges the notion of barriers by transforming a once-divisive element into an interactive and engaging space for the community. Rather than simply enclosing, the wall becomes a continuous series of exhibition and recreation spaces, inviting children, the elderly, and residents to engage with art and each other in meaningful ways. Integrated pockets along the wall create opportunities for playful exploration, quiet reflection, and spontaneous interaction—whether through small galleries showcasing local works, shaded seating areas for conversation, or playful recesses designed for children’s activities.
Beyond its physical function, the wall serves as a symbolic and spatial connector, dissolving the traditional separation between an art museum and the everyday life of Leming Village. It blurs the line between art and public space, allowing cultural expression to seamlessly integrate with the rhythms of the community. By embedding art into familiar, accessible spaces, the design fosters a deeper sense of belonging and participation, ensuring that the museum is not just a destination but an evolving, lived experience within the neighborhood.
Sun Link Sea Greenhouse Renovation
FCU / Spring 2021 4th Year Project
Instructor / Carlos Chacon
Location / Sun Link Sea, Nantou County, Taiwan
Spatial Strategy
Narrative
Sun Link Sea is a natural ecological park located halfway from Xitou to Alishan Hiking route, covering an area of 40 hectares. This area is surrounded by lush mountains, providing a rich and diverse environment. Different types of flowers can be seen throughout the year, such as cherry blossoms in spring, heather in summer, orchids in autumn and winter.
This project is primarily tackling the integration and reorganization of the existing flower center, which is located in the middle area of the park. I start with reconnecting the three main visiting routes and incorporating additional facilities such as cafes and exhibition spaces. Furthermore, I combined movable flower beds and green walls into the design, and by selecting visually lighter construction materials such as profiled steel and perforated mesh, it turns out to be three transparently greenhouses blended and weaved into the landscape. The color palette from different types of flowers coexist with the signature "clouds and mists" of Sun Link Sea, forming a flower center with constantly changing appearances throughout the year.
Retail, Coffee Shop
MurMurLab / 2019
Role / Intern
Location / Shanghai, China
Project Info
During my internship at MurMurLab, I had the incredible opportunity to join the team at the very start of the Unibrown Coffee Store project. As the project lead, I was involved in every phase, from developing the artificial landscape concept to overseeing construction and ensuring the shop’s successful opening. The project aimed to create a space that fosters a sense of community through its innovative design, integrating natural and artificial elements to create a dynamic, immersive environment. The artificial landscape concept, central to the project, blends sculptural forms with functional spaces, enhancing the sensory experience of customers. I collaborated closely with the team to refine the design, select materials, and ensure seamless execution, which ultimately contributed to the store's distinct, welcoming atmosphere. This experience allowed me to grow significantly, gaining hands-on expertise in managing a project from concept through to completion.
Soundscape Design
The music at Unibrown Coffee Store enhances its immersive atmosphere, blending ambient and natural sounds with subtle rhythms. Designed to evolve throughout the day, the soundscape reinforces the store’s identity, creating a warm and engaging sensory experience.
Pharmaceutical Factory Renovation
Personal work / 2024 (completed)
Role / Design Lead
Location / Taichung Industrial District
Project Info
This project is a renovation of the office and façade of Yushen Pharmaceuticals, including an updated logo design to modernize the company’s image. The office redesign focuses on creating a minimalist, comfortable workspace that enhances employee productivity and well-being. Meanwhile, the façade update provides a fresh, cohesive identity, reflecting the company’s innovative and trustworthy values. Together, these improvements aim to elevate both the workplace experience and the pharmaceutical brand’s professional image.
Yushen Office 1F Plan
Facade Renovation
Project Info
The restaurant redesign focuses on creating a welcoming, dynamic atmosphere that enhances the dining experience. With custom lighting, comfortable seating, and quality materials, the space fosters both social interaction and relaxation. The layout ensures smooth flow for guests and staff, reflecting the restaurant's commitment to quality and exceptional service.
GL-01
Yushen Restaurant 1F Plan
Yushen Restaurant 2F Plan
Social Housing Competition, 1st Place
BaF / 2023
Role / Designer
Location / Taipei, Taiwan
Project Info
During my time at BaF, I actively contributed to the *HURC Dao-Xiang Social Housing* competition, a project dedicated to creating an innovative and sustainable residential community. Designed to address the growing need for affordable housing while fostering social connectivity, the project emphasized a human-centered approach, integrating green spaces, communal areas, and adaptable living environments.
Working closely with the team from initial concept development to the final proposal, I played a key role in spatial planning, facade design, and visualization. My responsibilities included exploring efficient unit layouts, material selection, and sustainable design strategies that enhance both livability and environmental performance. Additionally, I contributed to the development of presentation materials that effectively communicated our vision to stakeholders.
By prioritizing inclusivity and interaction, the design aimed to break away from conventional housing typologies, offering residents a wellbalanced urban living experience. The project successfully secured a winning bid, reinforcing the importance of thoughtful design in shaping the future of social housing.
Community Courtyard
The design fosters a strong sense of community through integrated green spaces, shared courtyards, and multi-functional gathering areas. Thoughtfully planned to encourage social interaction, these spaces provide residents with opportunities to connect, relax, and engage in daily activities while promoting a sustainable and inclusive living environment.
Apartment Renovation
STUDIO DB / 2024
Role / Intern
Location / Downtown Manhattan, New York
Project Info
**A Colorful Modernist**
This project reinterprets modernist principles through a vibrant and dynamic design approach. Focused on bold color applications and geometric forms, the design balances playful aesthetics with functional spatial planning. My contributions included design development, material research, and visualization, helping to refine the project's architectural expression and overall composition.
Sun Link Sea Greenhouse Renovation
POSITION / 2024
Role / Designer
Location / Tribeca, New York
Project Info
"275 Greenwich" is a full remodel residential project designed to create a warm, inviting home for a couple. Embracing a palette of rich wood tones, the design focuses on enhancing natural light and adding warmth to each space. Clean lines, natural textures, and carefully chosen materials combine to create a serene, cohesive atmosphere, balancing modern aesthetics with cozy, intimate details. The result is a thoughtfully crafted home that reflects the couple’s lifestyle, providing comfort and refined simplicity in every corner.
